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Passage

Motivation for ruralism in underdeveloped countries are understandably different from those in developed countries. In the Third World countries, which are predominantly rural, the only lever that can lift human life above its present subhuman level, is rural development. Rural life in such countries has been stagnating for countries on end. Nothing worthwhile has been done to ameliorate the conditions of the rural population which is only slightly different from that of their quadruped counterpart. Ignorance, ill health and poverty have become synonyms of rural life in the undeveloped and underdeveloped countries. But the worst tragedy is that the concerned human populations have taken this state of affairs for granted, as something unalterable, something for which there is no remedy. Every ray of hope has gone out of their lives. In such countries, Rural Development is the inevitable condition of any material or non-material advancement. As such enlightened sections of all such countries have been taking ever growing interest in the question of Rural Development.

This was also part of the legacy of their freedom struggle. In countries like India, it is well-known that attempts at Rural Development were an inseparable part of the independence movement. Leaders like Gandhiji realised quite well that Real India lived in her stagnating villages. Cities, which were mostly the products of Western colonialism, were just artificial showpieces. Even there, there were two worlds. The posh areas, where the affluent few, mostly the products and custodians of imperial interest lives, were little islands engulfed by the vast ocean of dirt, represented by the vast majority of people.

Cities were by no means unknown to India, but in ancient India, they were integral parts, organically related to the rest of the country and society. But, modern cities are exotic centres of commercial and industrial exploitation. Cities in ancient India were the flowers of cultural and artistic excellence of the nation, modern cities are just parasites, preying on and debillitating the country.

Hence, Gandhiji started the ‘Go to Village Movement’ which along, according to him, could bring freedom to India and sustain it. Rural development had the pride of place in his strategy for the Nation’s freedom. Thus, it had its origin in the freedom struggle.

Question

The standard of living of human beings in the Third World countries is-

Choices

Choice (4)

Response

a.

not far better than that of animals

b.

subhuman despite best efforts for improvement

c.

improving very rapidly

d.

immune to any improvement

Passage

In the town of Agra there lives a rich businessman. But he was also quite a miser. Various people used to flock outside his house everyday hoping for some kind of generosity, but they always had to return home disappointed. He used to award them off with false promises and then never lived up to his word. Then one day, a poet named Raidas arrived at his house and said that he wanted to read out his poems to the rich man. As the rich man was very fond of poetry, he welcomed him in with open arms.

Raidas started to recite all his poems one by one. The rich man was very pleased and especially so when he heard had written on him. In those days, it was a custom for rich men and kings to show their appreciation through a reward or a gift, as that was the only means of earning that a poor poet possessed. So the rich man promised Raidas some gifts and asked him to come and collect them the next day. Raidas was pleased.

The next morning when he arrived at the house, the rich man pretended that he had never laid eyes on him before. When Raidas reminded him of his promise, he said that although Raidas was a good poet he liked the poem which was written on him and the rest of the poems were very ordinary. He also said that he had earlier promised a reward to Raidas not because he was really pleased or impressed, but to simply encourage him. Raidas was extremely upset, but as there was nothing that he could do, he quietly left the house. On his home way he met his brother Kuber who was riding a horse. So, he stopped him and asked for his help after narrating the whole incident. Kuber took him to his own house in order to come up with a plan. After giving it some thought he asked Raidas to go to a friend’s house with five gold coins and request the friend to plan a dinner where the rich man would also be invited. He then narrated his plan to him.

Raidas had one trustworthy friend whose name was Mayadas. So, he went up to him and told him the plan. The next day, Mayadas went to the rich man’s house and invited him for dinner. He said that he intended to serve his guests in vessels of gold, which the guests would get to take homeafter the meal. The rich man was thrilled to hear this and jumped at the offer. After ‘the rich man arrived at Mayadas’ house, he was surprised to see no other guests there but Raidas. Anynow, they welcomed him in and started a polite conversation. The rich man had come on an empty stomach and so was getting hungrier by the minute.

Finally, at midnight, the rich man could bear his hunger no longer and asked Mayadas to serve the food. Mayadas sounded extremely surprises when he asked him what food was he talking about. The rich man tried to remind him that he had been invited for dinner. At this point Raidas asked him for proof of the invitation. The rich man had no answer. At that point Raidas reminded the rich man of the same treatment that he had done with him. The rich man realised his mistake and begged for forgiveness. He said that Raidas was a good poet and had not asked him for any reward. He himself had promised to give him some gifts and then cheated him out of them. To make up for his mistake, he took out the necklace that he was wearing and gifted it to Raidas. Then, they all sat down at eat a happy meal.